


Zac Vs. the Unattainable Man

by storiesfortravellers



Category: Chuck RPF
Genre: Acting, Co-workers, Geeks, M/M, Marvel Comics - Freeform, Misconceptions, People arguing about Spideypool, Romance, Saturday Night Live - Freeform, Shipping, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-03 00:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5269832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesfortravellers/pseuds/storiesfortravellers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zac thinks Matt is out of his league. Matt thinks Zac is straight.</p><p>Plus, one of them doesn't know what "shipping" is, and that needs to be corrected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zac Vs. the Unattainable Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kindness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kindness/gifts).



> AU where neither Zac nor Matt is involved with anyone else.
> 
> Warnings for characters misperceiving the sexuality of others, and for characters worrying about how their sexuality is perceived by others/worries about problematic assumptions.

It had been two weeks since Matt had been on set, and Zac was still thinking about him.

Easy on the eyes, that one.

And nice, too. Really, genuinely nice, not like a lot of people in the business.

On set, sometimes Zac had to make an effort not to just… stare. Sure, Matt had a gorgeous face. And body. And he was graceful: dance scenes or fight scenes, he moved like a cat, and Zac found it pretty entrancing to watch, he had to admit.

But it was the eyes. Bright and blue. Distant and mysterious when playing Bryce. Warm and full of laughter when just being himself. (But something still mysterious there, some private world that Matty kept people at a distance from. If Zac were prone to romantic sentimentalism, he’d think it signified inner depths or something silly like that.)

And the lips, of course. It was hard not to look at Matt’s mouth sometimes, sure. 

But it was the eyes that made Zac feel like he was about to fall over. Especially during the scenes between Chuck and Bryce. Matt would just act the hell out of those scenes, the intensity making it hard for Zac to think straight, to not mess up his lines. Zac sort of understood his character better for it, in fact; he could see why Chuck would fall for Bryce. Perfect, devoted, distant Bryce.

Zac had actually covered for the obvious awkward staring like a dork by telling Matt that he thought that Chuck and Bryce were either ex lovers or had some unrequited thing going on. Which was true – Zac did think that Bryce and Chuck had an epic love going on, but he would normally not tell his co-stars something like that. Except for Josh, maybe, but they didn’t have to actually say it since the scripts made the love between Morgan and Chuck none too subtle. 

But with Matt, he just said it in case Matt had noticed Zac acting weird and awkward in their scenes. Always nice to be able to claim that the obvious crush was just the character’s and not real at all, not one bit. 

The privileges of being an actor.

Matt had agreed, though, about Chuck and Bruce. But while Zac leaned toward them being friends with benefits who were secretly in love in college, Matt tended toward the theory that they had never consummated the relationship. 

“Bryce obviously loves Chuck. But he wants to protect Chuck from the world of spies, and that includes himself,” Matt had pointed out.

“But they knew each other before Bryce was a spy.”

“Yeah. But Bryce sees Chuck as an innocent. And Bryce has never seen himself that way. Besides, Chuck comes off as very straight.”

“…Really?” Zac had asked.

“Yeah. And Bryce probably wouldn’t risk a good friendship by hitting on a straight guy. I mean, why would he do that?”

“So… you think Bryce just didn’t tell Chuck his feelings? Ever? That’s like the saddest fucking thing ever.”

Matt had laughed. “It’s not. If you fall for someone who’s not into your gender, you get over it. You move on. People do it all the time.”

“That easy?” 

“I didn’t say easy.” 

A pause. Then, Zac cleared his throat. “So at least we agree. Chuck and Bryce should have loads of subtexts. Like alllllll the subtext.”

“Yes. Barrels and barrels full of subtext,” Matt had said with a grin. 

“I gotta admit, I totally ship these two.” 

“Ship?” Matt had asked.

“I see them as being a ship. A relationship. And I’m, like, invested. So I ship them. Have you seriously never heard of shipping?”

“No. I mean, I majored in theater, but I never heard of it.”

“Oh. Uh.” Awkwardness. Again. “It’s not an acting term. It’s… a fandom term. I’m kind of … into being a fan.”

“Oh. Cool.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Matt had said. “It’s good I have someone to ask about fan stuff. I always feel so clueless. So ‘shipping’ is what you do to ‘ships’?”

“Yeah. Like, for example, I ship Deadpool and Spiderman.”

“Awesome.” A pause.

Zac had laughed. “You have no idea who Deadpool is, do you?”

“Not so much. But I know the other one.”

“Yeah. No nerd bonus points for knowing who Spiderman is, buddy.”

Matt had laughed. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m a fast learner.”

“…Guess so.”

Zac smiled as he recalled the conversation. Talking to Matt on set about characters had always been a good time. Matt wasn’t one of those guys who thought that doing a fun TV show was beneath him. Matt had done Beckett and Pinter and all that stuff, but he always put a hundred percent into the few lines Bryce was given. He took it damn seriously.

But of course he could have fun too.

At the time, while filming with Matt, Zac had thought the best part was getting to look at Matt Bomer being perfect all day. 

A couple weeks later, he realized that the best part was when Matt wasn’t perfect at all – when Matt would mess up a line and yell “Shit!” 

Even now, just thinking about it made Zac crack up.

Though really, he shouldn’t still be thinking about Matt. 

Ridiculously beautiful Matt. Who was about a million miles out of his league. 

And who probably thought Zac was straight. 

Because Zac hadn’t been able to figure out a non-fucked-up way to say “In case you think I’m straight, I’m not, I’m bi, not that I’m presuming you want to have sex with me, but just in case you do, I would be up for it, and okay I’m bi but I haven’t had a relationship with a man since college and you probably see me as some dude who’s still experimenting with my sexuality but of course you don’t think that, you’re too enlightened to think biphobic things, but you really are more experienced with men and also out of my league and also so hot I think about you way more than is healthy, so anyway, yeah, not straight.”

He really wished he had found a way to work it into the conversation, though.

\--

Another couple of weeks passed before Zac got a text.

 **Text message from Matt B:** Hey, I’m in town this weekend for a talk show. Do you want to hang out?

Zac smiled. He kind of loved the fact that Matt was the only person in the world who felt the need to be use correct punctuation in a text message.

 **Text message from Zac:** sure sounds cool. diner on 57th?

 **Text message from Matt B:** Looking forward to it!

A few days later, they were sitting at the diner together, looking at the menu. 

“Quinoa with grilled chicken, please,” Matt said, handing the server the menu, “And an iced tea. Thank you so much.”

“Um, same. But I’ll have a cookie crumble milkshake,” Zac said.

When the two of them were alone in the booth again, Matt leaned forward, looking very serious.

“So, I have a question for you.”

Zac swallowed. He felt like Matt was about to ask him something he didn’t want to answer. “What’s that, buddy?”

“Wade and Peter? I don’t get it.”

Zac burst out laughing.

“This Deadpool guy seems like he’s not the most considerate partner,” Matt added with a smile.

“That is quite the understatement,” Zac said. “Wait, did you – did you read about them?”

“I went to the comic shop, checked out a few things.”

“Are you researching for a part or something?” 

Matt looked almost uncomfortable for a second. “No. You said you shipped them. So I thought I’d… learn more.”

“Oh. That’s … really cool.”

“So, why Wade and Peter?”

“It’s an opposites attract thing.”

“I don’t get it. It's not a healthy relationship. But shipping I think I get - I definitely feel invested in the relationships in the X-Men.”

“Charles/Erik? Or Jean/Logan?”

“I kind of think Storm and Cyclops would be a badass couple,” Matt said.

“Okay, you have a lot to learn about shipping.”

Matt grinned. “Well, explain it. Like I said, I’m a fast learner.”

\--

Zac did his best to keep in contact with Matt after that. He figured that it wouldn’t come off as weird or desperate if Matt had reached out first. He didn’t really know what to say except give updates on funny things Josh or Yvonne did on set or to just put him on mass emails Zac would send his friends with links to funny youtube videos. (And who cared if people found his funny youtube emails annoying? Guinea pigs playing the xylophone are awesome. If people don’t like awesomeness, they don’t have to watch.)

After one particular mass email, Matt texted him.

 **Text message from Matt B:** I guess we have a ship in common besides Chuck and Bryce finally.

 **Text message from Zac:** ?

 **Text message from Matt B:** Seth and Stefon from SNL. That video was hilarious. 

**Text message from Zac:** IKR? Those dudes are so funny

 **Text message from Matt B:** Totally. And usually I don’t think it’s fun to watch a guy pine for a straight man, but they strike a nice balance with the humor. 

**Text message from Zac:** why do you think seth myers is straight?

 **Text message from Matt B:** What do you mean?

 **Text message from Zac:** the character of Weekend Update Seth Myers not the actor himself. the character might not be straight.

 **Text message from Matt B:** I guess you’re right. Maybe Seth and Stefon have a chance, LOL.

 **Text message from Zac:** just you wait lol. r u in town again soon?

 **Text message from Matt B:** Not until Bryce comes back to the show in spring.

 **Text message from Zac:** ok. Itll be cool to see u then

 

\--

“I love what they’re doing with Bryce. I’m glad he and Chuck have this complicated relationship,” Matt said as Zac handed him a beer. They were crowded onto the tiny loveseat in Zac’s trailer on set.

“Yeah, I’m excited about it,” Zac said as they clinked beers and took a sip.

“So I hear that the Cowboys are moving to a new stadium in a couple years. That’ll be a big change,” Zac said then.

Matt raised an eyebrow. “Since when do you talk about football?”

Zac shrugged. “More like, you’re from Texas. So I read up on Texas.”

Matt seemed a little amused by this.

Zac added quickly. “Because you read about comics for me. So I read about Texas football for you. Not that you read about comics for me. Obviously, you were just curious about comics anyway. I mean--”

“Zac,” Matt said. “I read about comics for you.”

“Oh. Really? I mean, I thought that’s what you said, but…. Okay. Good.”

“But I’m not that interested in talking football. I had enough football when I was young to last me a lifetime, and I have plenty of people back home I can talk to about it.”

“Right. Of course.” _Smooth. Very smooth,_ Zac said to himself. He really ought to learn to be less sarcastic to himself in times of massive social failures.

“But. It was amazingly sweet of you to look up that stuff for me.” Matt moved closer to Zac then. He leaned in and paused.

Between the breathing hard and the racing heartbeat and noticing Matty’s mouth and pretending not to notice Matty’s mouth, it took a second to figure out. But then Zac took a good look at Matt’s face and he saw it. 

Matt was nervous too.

Matt wanted this too.

Zac moved in, kissed him hard, let his fingers come up to Matt’s jaw and linger, fingertips on stubble, the taste of Matty’s lips. The jolt of warmth as one of Matty’s hands came up to Zac’s waist, moved inside his shirt and up his side.

When they finally parted, they were both breathing hard. 

“You sure you want to do this?” Matt said, “They say it’s a bad idea for co-stars to….” His eyes were a little distant all of a sudden, and it reminded Zac so much of Bryce, fucking unreadable Bryce Larkin, that he didn’t even want to answer, so he just kissed Matty again, harder, leaning forward, pressing his body flush against Matty’s. 

“I’m all for bad ideas,” Zac whispered then, out of breath. 

Matt grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

\--

_Three years later_

Zac and Matt cuddled in bed as they watched Seth and Stefon get married on Saturday Night Live.

"Told you they were meant for each other," Zac said, a little smugly. He looked over at their two wedding rings on the nightstand and smiled. 

"Yeah, well you're not right often, so enjoy it," Matt teased.

"I'm right about the important stuff," Zac said, pulling Matt a little closer.

Matt shrugged and leaned in. "I guess you are."

Zac paused, then added, "I'm, like, the Wade to your Peter."

"Spideypool roleplay is not happening right now, Zac."

"Had to try."

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompts of Zac/Matt with Zac being adorably awkward and attracted to Matt and how he's just good at everything and worrying that Matt won't like him back, and Matt being into Zac but worrying that he's straight. Thanks, Kindness, for the cool list of prompts! Hope you like :)


End file.
